Tomas Satoransky’s career night a sign of things to come?

All summer long Bulls fans were hearing about the value of bringing in quality veteran free agents Thaddeus Young and Tomas Satoransky. Young has been his typically solid self through the first two weeks of the season providing leadership and two-way production, but Satoransky looked to be searching for how his skill set would fit into the new Bulls’ offense.

Satoransky told reporters earlier this week that the Bulls needed to be more aggressive with their pacing and offensive execution. And, it looks like he took that message to heart. The 28-year-old native of the Czech Republic had been doing a solid job of directing the offense, averaging around 5 and a half assists while playing just over half a game, but he failed to crack double figures in scoring in any of the first 8 games.

Bulls’ fans heard all about Sato’s exploits at last summer’s World Cup where he was one of the best players in the tournament while leading his country to an unexpected berth in the quarterfinals. Expectations began to grow that Satoransky could be the missing piece in the Bulls’ starting line-up, with the positional size and shooting ability to be the ideal complement to Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen, and Otto Porter Jr.

Maybe it was just a case of wanting to get the ball to the established scorers first, but Satoransky looked reluctant to shoot while the Bulls stumbled out of the gate with a 2-6 record. That all changed Wednesday night in Atlanta when Sato totally outplayed the Hawks’ 2nd-year star, Trae Young, finishing with 27 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists to Young’s 9 points on 3-12 shooting from the field.

Satoransky led the defensive effort on Young and also used his size to shoot over the top of the smaller Hawks’ point guard, making 10 of 13 shots from the field, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range.

It’s only one game, but Satoransky showed last season he has the ability to string together productive offensive performances while starting 54 games for Washington after John Wall was injured. If the 6-foot-7 point guard maintains an aggressive offensive mindset, he could turn out to be the under the radar quality signing NBA experts have been talking about for months.

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